Her Decision, Her Choice
by fishm0i
Summary: All Jill wanted to do is to mend her broken heart and start life anew at her late parents' ranch together with her sister. Along the way she met the town's local farmer, Marlin. Will she be able to open her heart again to someone new? And what would she do, when her ex-husband returned to win her heart back again? And who will she choose? Rated T [Marlin x Jill]


She thought that fairytale stories are true after all about happily ever after.

She thought that she is happily married to the man that she loved.

She thought that they would have a child or two together, watching them grow, watching them being success and getting married.

She thought that she would grow old together with him, hand in hand walking in the park.

But she was wrong.

She should have known something was going on the moment she saw lipstick stain on her husband's shirt collar, and also the scent of Chanel No. 5 perfume – which she found it a few weeks ago tucked inside his coat and thinking it might be wedding anniversary surprise gift.

She silently chuckled as she tucked the perfume back into his coat and pretended that nothing had happened, hoping for their wedding anniversary to come very soon. Their wedding anniversary came, and she excitedly leaving work early to go home to prepare for their 3rd wedding anniversary.

On the way home she stopped by the wine store, picking out his favourite red wine. She then again dropped by the men's clothing store, picking out a grey colour silk tie – which she thought it fitted his working suit well.

She was in a very joyous mood; as she hummed into her favourite tune while her fingers were tapping on the wheel. Occasionally, she would take a look at her wedding band and smile contentedly to herself.

She didn't expect him to be home this early, as she spotted his black SUV parked at the front garage. Another smiled planted on her face as she got off her SUV, with all the shopping goods in her hand and headed to the front door.

There's no one sight at the living room, but a bouquet of her favourite lilies was on the coffee table. She smiled again and quietly putting down the shopping goods on the living room, wanting to tiptoe upstairs to surprise her husband.

She suddenly paused from her footsteps as she caught the sight of a red pump lying at the bottom of the staircase. The smile on her face had faded, and then she spotted the other side of the red pump.

All kinds of thoughts flooded her mind, as she climbed up the staircase in a trembling manner while finding the trail of a woman's and her husband's clothes along the way and finally stopped at their slightly opened bedroom door.

Her hands were trembling as she tried her to force her hands onto the doorknob, but paused again at the familiar voice of a woman. Biting her lower lip, she carefully pushed the slightly opened door to find a scene she refused to accept.

Instead of barging in, she decided to quietly leave the house. As tears falling down her cheeks, she forced herself to march down the stairs and leave the house and headed back into her own SUV and started the engine.

She doesn't remember how long she had drove; or how many incoming calls by her husband she had ignored. She could not control the tears that were streaming down her cheeks; she could not even bothered by how other drivers reacted as she was sobbing behind the wheel.

She found herself driving up to the beach. Bittersweet memories began flooding in as she climbed out of the car and walked towards the beach. She had herself sat onto the sand, as her eyes staring across the sea. The sea breeze felt extra colder today, as she hugged her knees to keep herself a little warm.

She remembered that Michael would always brought her here to enjoy the sea breeze whenever she was sad and said this is a secret spot of his that she was the first one to know. This is the place where they shared their first kiss; this is also the place where he proposed to her. Tears uncontrollably fell again as she thought back about their sweetest time together as she buried her face between her knees.

She knew that he would find her here, because this was the only place she would be if she went missing. He quietly walked behind her and placed his coat around her and quietly sat down right behind her without saying a word until she was ready to go home.

She did not throw a fit at him at all, or started yelling or kicking or hitting him, but quietly got up and walked towards her car and sat at the passenger seat. He later followed suit, quietly taking the driver's seat and drove them both home.

The whole journey was quiet to death, as he did not dare to breathe a word while all she did was staring blankly outside of the car with her swollen red eyes. Upon reaching home, she directly climbed up the staircase like a zombie and headed straight for the guest room.

She could not sleep back into their bed once again after seeing Imelda on it. Yes, the one and only Imelda - her very best friend since college. She was choked with tears again as she hid herself under the blanket, remembering how Imelda had spotted her at the doorway and giving her the devilish smile that sent chill down her spine.

For the coming next few weeks, she had not spoken a single word to Michael and so was Michael. She still did the daily routine of cooking and cleaning and also going to work as usual. She would slap on a fake smile to her colleagues at work every day.

At times she would intentionally coming home late, just hoping that Michael would go to bed first or would be in his study – but he would always be at the living room waiting until she returned home and retreated to the guest room, and she could not understand why he would do so.

She took a week long off, hiding under the covers while ignoring Michael's knocks on the door. She thought to herself for a very long time and consideration before entering Michael's study and dropped the bomb.

"Let's get a divorce."

Michael was too surprised to speak, but eventually agreed on her request. Maybe, she thought to herself, that the only thing he could do now is to agree with whatever she wanted.

Her divorce had reached to her sister Claire's ears, who rushed over to the city with Griffin to accompany her to the courthouse to finalise the papers. Being a feisty elder sister, Claire gave a tight, hard slap on Michael's face.

Michael took it without further complaint, as guilt written all over his face as he could only watch her packed up her things with her sister and left the house. She sold her car, resigned from her job, and decided to return to Forget-Me-Not Valley for good.

Forget-Me-Not Valley, it's been many years since her last return. She thought of the old days that she was helping her late parents growing crops, brushing the animals and collecting eggs from chickens and ducks as a little girl. She smiled at the thought of it.

Her sister noticed her smile from the rear mirror and turned around to check on her as she returned her with another smile. Jill sighed, as she stared outside of the car as the sight of Forget-Me-Not Valley was getting nearer.

Another last tear fall down her cheek, and she swore to herself to close her heart forever from getting another broken heart.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Oops, a little too long for a Prologue eh? I hope you guys liked it. As my command in English is not very good, I appreciated it very much if someone could check on my grammar or sentence mistake I might had missed out. Last but not least, Happy Reading. :)


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